Samsung Series 7 - Weird Battery Issue

Hey there,
I stumbled upon this thread and I can share my experience (AND how i SOLVED it) with the same/similar issue that is reported over pages here:

700Z3A was only intermittently charging regardless of Power Supply, different battery, Software loaded, Bios only, etc.
Suspected the battery itselt, but that wasn't the case.

It was a broken soldering pin at the Power Supply connector on the motherboard. The mechanical stress on that component (plug/unplug the Power supply) just loosened one of the pins of. That pin doesn't transfer actual power to the battery - it is one of the pins which makes sure you have the right power supply connected. Therefore the shorttime charge / discharge cycle.

Resoldered all pins on that connector and it's working since 2 months without a problem.

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but out of EVERYWHERE I could find on the web, this thread seems to be the go-to place for strange battery/charging problems on the 700z models. I have some to add, and some new questions as well.

I'll spare you the details of my struggles, but here's the quick rundown:

1.) Zero battery charging at all. Doesn't matter if I leave it off and plugged in, or on. It never charges.
2.) Charging light goes to orange as if it was charging, but after hours or days (no real pattern), begins alternating orange/green to indicate a charging problem.
3.) Windows (BatteryCat program) and Ubunutu both show a really low charge voltage (about 8v) with 0 watts, and zero rate of charge, even though it reports the battery is good, present and chargeable. Here's the specs as reported fro Ubuntu:

1.) Plugged power adapter into various wall outlets, an UPS, and even a power conditioner.
2.) Two power adapters have been tried, one a generic 90w replacement, the other a modified Dell 120w adapter as mentioned previously in this thread.
3.) Two different batteries have been tried, the original one (registers as 88% usable), and one new-old-stock (registers as 98% usable), both genuine Samsung.
4.) The power jack on the mo-bo appears to in excellent condition, both physically, and the solder points. Multimeter shows 19.6v at one terminal, ground at the other two, plus ground for the 4 jack outer case mounts.
5.) Multimeter readings for the battery connector - The 4 red wires all test at 16.5v, a single blue wire tests at 3.3v, and 4 black wires test as ground.
6.) Voltage reading for the power jack and the battery connections remain consistent when powered off, and when powered on and under load (no voltage drop). Readings are also nearly identical between the 90w and 120w power adapter.
7.) BIOS is the latest release.

I'm to the point where I'm leaning toward a bad motherboard, specifically the charging circuit. What the motherboard reports (8V) is NOT what's actually going on (16.5V).

Other than trying a genuine Samsung power adapter as a last resort, it seems the motherboard is the most likely culprit.

Before I spend the money on trying a different motherboard, is there ANYTHING else I can try? Is anyone willing to probe their laptop with a multimeter while its' running to confirm the same voltage readings on a properly working model?

I read your post. The reason I'm leaning toward mo-bo over the PSU is because batteries won't charge even with it off and sitting plugged-in unused. Yours would charge when off and only struggled when you were using it.

I've tried 2 PSU's already, one brand-new cheapie 90w and a high-quility 120w. Zero charging with either, even when powered off. Yet, they both are good enough to run the computer just fine. It's a ZERO charging issue that I face.

I'm purchasing another one of these that doesn't have a charging issue. From that, I'll have good working parts as a template for troubleshooting this one further. I'll report back what I end up finding.

Click to expand...

I got the new NP700Z5B in yesterday and have now resolved the problem. Following Up as promised.

BAD BATTERIES, both the original AND the New-Old-Stock one I purchased. Even tried the battery-in-the-freezer trick to try to rejuvenate them and that was a no-go.

I've ordered YET ANOTHER battery, and this time it's Brand New, from an official distributor, with a warranty.

120W POWER SUPPLY INFO:

FYI, those looking for the proper 120w PSU to purchase, I bought a model for the Series 7 DP700A3D (PSU Model: AD-12019 and OEM replacement for BA44-00152A, API2AD58, PA-1121-08, 7018470000) it fits perfect and works great. I don't think I actually needed it since the 90w charges the battery fine now under load, but I'm upgrading to 12GB RAM and replacing the DVD Drive with a 2nd internal HDD which very well could justify the purchase of the 120w PSU. If you have to buy a new adapter, you might as well get the 120w as it does run cooler, will probably last longer, and allows for future power-sucking upgrades like I've mentioned.

I've created an account here just to tell you guys that I've solved the battery issue, after a long time hustling with it.

I own a 700Z5C that I bought back in 2012, I paid $1000 for this high-end model. A couple years later, it started to charge intermittently but it would not affect usage. However, the problem evolved to a point where it would not charge when the laptop was on. I would have to shut it down and wait for it to charge intermittently for a whole day.

After reading a bunch of stuff on the internet, I felt the issue was the charger and bought a 120W one.

It's been 3 months that the laptop is working perfectly! After so long having headaches with it, I can use it with no worries.

I'll recommend the link from where I bought it, I have nothing to do with the seller, I just want to help you guys who suffer from the same issue: